


Centuries

by Darkxlina



Category: Shadow and Bone
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28960449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkxlina/pseuds/Darkxlina
Summary: Alina Starkov meant to time travel back several months to when the Darkling still trusted her so she could kill him. But she got overshot by centuries and landed in the middle of a war and before the fold was created.
Relationships: The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov
Comments: 60
Kudos: 117





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This starts right at the beginning of Ruin and Rising and if you haven’t read it here’s a brief summary: at the end of Siege and Storm there was a battle that Alina lost and she fled underground where the Apparat isolated her and that’s where this starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by an au that @/nocturnes made on Twitter so credits to them for this idea

“Are you sure about this?” Mal asked as he paced back and forth in the cramped quarters.  
“I agree time travel seems really far out, even for a Sun Summoner.”

Zoya said I was surprised to hear that from her given how little she seemed concerned with me in the past. But they were right, we were underground with limited resources and the Apparat could catch us at any moment. This was definitely a far out plan. And our last hope

“The Darkling is too powerful now if I don’t kill him before he suspects me we won’t stand a chance.”

I didn’t want to think about how I was dreading the moment I’d have to kill him I had every reason to hate him but I still wanted him to come to me through the bond, I was still relieved when I found out he was alive. Then Tamar burst through the doors.

“The Apparat knows, Alina I’m sorry I thought we’d have more time but we have to go. Now.”  
“Alina. Go don’t worry about me.” He called back.  
I should have kept my mouth shut. Distracting him gave one of the soldat sol a perfect chance to put a bullet in his head. Tamar continued dragging me down the hallway.  
“I’m sorry but we have to move faster.”  
It seemed ridiculous that somewhere so far underground would have one but it was a good thing that it did for hiding the time machine. Zoya was quick to follow as Tamar slammed the door shut. It wouldn’t hold for long but it had to be enough time for everyone’s sake. The time machine was a box that had been crafted from grisha steel. It was hard to think that I would get the chance to kill the Darkling in just a few moments.

I didn’t believe in saints the way some people did but I prayed that it would be enough to save Ravka but what if in some messed up way the Darkling’s rule could be a good thing? Grisha would be safe but at what price? No. He was cruel and merciless nothing could possibly make up for the amount of blood on his hands. Where’s Mal?”

“He’s dead.” Zoya replied “The soldat sol shot him.”  
The words stung. It was just moments ago I was sitting with him in my quarters and now he was gone and it was all my fault. He saved my life so many times and I couldn’t save his once. I couldn’t fail to kill the Darkling too.  
“Get in we don’t have much time.” The pounding on the door was getting louder. I stepped in the machine there was lots of wires and buttons on the outside but the inside was just steel. Several moments passed I couldn’t hear anything from outside but I could tell it had been too long and something was wrong. Finally I fell through the darkness. David told me this was what would happen but it still took me by surprise. My plan was to enter right before my power was revealed and earn the Darkling’s trust again and backstab him before he could expand the fold. I’d land in Kribirsk but when I landed I could tell something was off.

There was no darkness that loomed over the town. Although Kribirsk had never been much now there was even less all the buildings I could see in the distance were more like shacks and there were army tents all around me. But the landscape around proved that it was the right place. Soldiers were everywhere moving around the tents but I noticed there were no keftas anywhere.  
“Hey.” A voice from behind me said “Are you part of the new unit?” He asked  
“I- yeah. Sorry I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing.” I replied to the tall man behind me  
“Go set up camp and if you are grisha use your power whatever way is useful.” So there were grisha but I didn’t like the way he said grisha with such disgust. I thought Ravka moved past that a while ago. And then it hit me. The fold had been created before the second army and the fold wasn’t here. Neither was the second army. David had overshot me by at least 4 centuries.


	2. Chapter 2

What the hell was I going to do? I was supposed to go a few months back so we hadn’t planned a return, how was I going to wait centuries? Was the Darkling even born yet? I still needed him to come to power and create the second army so Ravka could be safe. In the time travel my amplifiers had broken off, I knew this could happen David warned me that this would but it was still a shock. Would I even be able to defeat him without them? All these thoughts ran through my head as I struggled with setting up a tent. 

At least part of my awful timing was good and I happened to land here at the same time as new soldiers arrived so I was blending in. I was worried about my white hair giving me away but I had to remind myself that nobody would see me as a saint for another few centuries. 

“Do you need help with that?” Someone asked me I turned around and saw a suli girl looking at my pathetic attempt at setting up the tent.   
“Yeah, thanks.” I said awkwardly   
“I’m Kate”She said “I don’t recognize you, are you new?”   
“I’m Alina and yes I just got here.”   
“Kate get over here you need to get fires started.” Someone called behind us that made me realize that she was an inferni.  
“I have to go but I’ll help you later.” Kate hurried away to go start fires. 

It was weird how much less authority grisha seemed to have. The only thing that distinguished grisha from the rest of the army was a pin with their order symbol on their drab grey uniform. And just like that I was back to dealing with a mess of stakes, poles and canvas that should be a tent. It was a shame this whole area would one day be covered in darkness it was really beautiful with tall pine trees looming around rolling hills. The road that would one day become the Vy was just a dirt path. 

I was regretting saying that I was a cartographer even though that was what my role used to be. Ravka was so different and I wouldn’t know anything. I wish Mal was here he would still somehow find a way to fit in and make everything better. I was already thinking of ways that I could prevent his death but I had to remind myself of what my mission was. I looked for people I knew in the camp even though it was impossible that anyone I knew would be alive right now. That’s when I saw him. 

The Darkling was in a grey army uniform just like everyone else’s instead of a black kefta although hundreds of years had passed he barely looked younger. He was carrying a crate of something I couldn’t quite make out what it was and talking to a blonde girl who was also carrying something.Of course he had other lovers he’s hundreds of years old. The though shouldn’t have hurt the way it did. But the biggest difference between the Darkling I knew and who I was looking at was that he looked happy. 

He was laughing and seemed more carefree than I had ever seen him. He looked in my direction, I hoped that he was looking at something else and not my failed attempt at helping set up. But that was too much to hope for.  
He said something to the girl next to him and came over to help me with the tent.

“Let me help you with that.” said the Darkling.   
“No!” I replied frantically. His grey eyes widened with surprise at my response. I couldn’t blame him he was just trying to help me.  
“You’re using the wrong size of poles and the canvas is still folded.”   
“Thanks. I can handle it now.” I immediately regretted the salty tone of my voice when I remembered that my goal was to get him to trust me.  
“You know what. Fine. Help me.” I said al little too late the Darkling looked flustered but didn’t question me.  
“I’ll lay it out and you go get the right sized poles.”   
“Don’t tell me what to do.” I snapped. I didn’t want to talk any orders from him but the reality that this was centuries earlier and he hadn’t committed the crimes I hated him for yet. I was definitely not going to earn his trust if I kept this up.  
“I hate to tell you but I’m second in command, that’s my job.”   
“Oh. I’ll get the poles then.” I walked over to the supplies and was trying to find a bag with the right size when I noticed the girl I’d seen talking to the Darkling earlier. 

“Hey can you help me find something?” I asked her. If I knew people close to the Darkling maybe that could give me another advantage.  
“Of course are you looking for something for the tent I saw Aleksander go to help you.”

It took me a second to realize that she was talking about the Darkling. That there was a time when he didn’t have a title. It could also be made up. And he was lying to everyone as he always did. I wanted to tell her that trusting him was foolish but that would just make me seem crazy. I had no clue what I was doing and my white hair already made me stand out enough I didn’t need to seem crazy too. 

“I’m Alina, thanks for helping me.” I said after a minute of awkward silence. Being the one starting the conversation for once was weird.   
“Willow. Nice to meet you.” She said. I got the right supplies and walked through camp to where the Darkling was setting up the tent. 

“We need to hurry it’s going to rain soon and this is going to keep all our gunpowder dry.” the Darkling said. I wished I knew more about history so I could try to piece together what was happening. Ravka was clearly at some type of war judging from the amount of soldiers and weapons at the camp.  
“Why do we need all this?” I asked   
The Darkling looked confused, like this would be something I should know but he answered anyways. 

“The Fijerdans have west Ravka almost under control, we are trying to keep them from getting farther into Ravka from this side.”   
We finished setting up in silence until the man who had given me orders when I first got her showed up.  
“I need to have a word with lieutenant Morozova.” He said sternly to me I noticed that the Darkling tensed when he saw him even though it was subtle.   
“What is it sir?”   
“Did you forget about the meeting?” 

the Darkling swore under his breath and followed the man I could only assume was the General. I had a million questions I doubted I would ever get answers for.   
I finished the tent and went to lifting a crate full of weapons when Kate approached me. I was so focused on trying to see the Darkling again that I almost didn’t see her.

“How’s it going?” She’s just being nice and I was grateful for it but I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone right now.  
“Good.”  
“You can help cook dinner if you don’t feel like hauling boxes everywhere if you want.”she offered even though didn’t want to talk I felt like moving crates around less.   
“Thanks I’ll join you once I move this last box.” I was exhausted by the time I sat next to Kate.   
“What do you do here, I’m a mapmaker.”  
Kate said the moment I sat down. How did she have this much energy? “Me too.” I was still scanning the camp for the Darkling but I couldn’t find him anywhere. It’s probably nothing important he’s second in command he must be super busy. 

I made small talk with Kate. We set up more of camp after we ate and I was so relieved when I could finally fall asleep. It reminded me of my time in the first army before I was the sun summoner. I was drifting into sleep on my uncomfortable cot when I heard voices outside the tent and immediately recognized the Darkling’s voice.


	3. Chapter 3

“No. It’s too risky the price wouldn’t be worth it.” the Darkling said it was clear he was angry about something. I just needed to figure out what. 

“You are young you know nothing about what you will have to do to win a war.”  
I barely recognized the General’s voice   
“You have no idea what I know.” the Darkling sounded calmer than he did before but that only made me worry more. 

What was going on? What price could possibly be so high that someone who would tear their country in half and kill thousands of innocent people wouldn’t pay? The rain pattering on the tent made it hard to hear the rest of their conversation. Eventually I gave up and fell asleep. When I woke up the next day the rain had stopped. I went to find Kate who was trying to get a fire started to cook breakfast. 

“Hey can I sit with you?” I asked awkwardly   
“Yeah of course can you stir this while I keep this flame going?”   
I stirred what I hoped was oatmeal when I noticed that Willow was walking over to us. I wondered if she knew anything about the conversation I overheard between the Darkling and the General.

“Are either of you going on the patrol later today?”  
“We’re mapmakers so we have to so we can look for anything that might have been different from last time.” That was certainly new to me. The last time I had been in this area was hundreds of years in the future. I didn’t know why I was surprised that I’d actually have to do work I was pretending to be a soldier so of course I would.

“Oh good so I’ll know some other people there.” Willow said I really should have thought this out more but I was committed now.   
“I’m going to go find Aleksander.” Willow announced. it was a common name hopefully she was looking for someone other than the Darkling.   
“What patrol was Willow talking about.” Kate laughed   
“You really are clueless. There’s reports of a group of Fijerdans to the north and we’re going to find out if they are true or not and we need to look for new paths and evidence they were there with the trackers.” 

My heart sank thinking of if I were in different circumstances I would look forward to this. To Mal. I refused to mourn him. He wasn’t even born yet and I had hundreds of years to figure out how to save him. Willow came back to our spot with the Darkling close behind her. I was tempted to make up an excuse to leave but without the Darkling’s trust I would get nowhere. He was drinking coffee and I noticed he looked really tired. I didn’t know exactly how late it had been when I heard him but it must’ve been pretty late. He sat next to Willow and she put her arm around his shoulder.

“And yet you were wondering why people would think we were lovers.” the Darkling said but he seemed perfectly fine with her affection   
“Are you?” I blurted   
“No he’s not my type.” Willow answered. 

I didn’t question them any further. Kate apparently knew Willow and they were deep in conversation. Which left me to talk the Darkling. I knew I should say something but he wasn’t saying anything either so we just sat in silence.

“I have to go do some last minute planning for that stupid patrol.” The Darkling finally said.He was just getting up when Willow asked   
“Wasn’t General Janazain supposed to do that?”   
“He’s a lazy piece of shit and I don’t trust him so I just did it myself.” So insulting his superiors was something the Darkling always did.   
“Alina we need to go to the cartographer’s tent to get some supplies before we go.” Interrupted Kate  
“Wait you’re a mapmaker?” the Darkling asked  
“Yeah” I said hesitantly   
“That’s weird I didn’t think there was any new mapmakers that arrived.” 

This wasn’t good. The Darkling was smart and he could easily catch on that I wasn’t supposed to be here. I’d rather that than him figure out that I’m a Sun Summoner, since the fold wasn’t created yet he wouldn’t need me to expand it so there was nothing stopping him from killing me. I didn’t like that I would need to hide my power but if that’s what it took I would do it. Kate and I gathered pencils and paper to draw anything new I didn’t know what I was going to do since I hadn’t been in this area at this point in time before. 

When we left I was surprised the area we needed to patrol actually seemed pretty peaceful there were huge pine trees surrounding us and I could hear a river running near us. In total our group was about 10 people as we trekked through the forest I noticed nobody seemed to be trying to be quite 

“Won’t the Fijerdans catch onto us?” I asked the Darkling   
“We want them to know we are onto them if they are here so it doesn’t really matter.”  
We looked through the forest about an hour but the rain seemed to wash away any evidence of anyone being there. I heard a loud crash that made everyone jump. There was a tall and blonde man trying and failing to hide behind the trees. 

“Keep him alive for interrogation.” the Darkling ordered. I didn’t want to think about what being interrogated by the Darkling would be like but I drew my knife and followed the soldiers who were getting ready to attack.   
“This is too easy.” Willow muttered. 

She was right. Something was off there should be more than one person in the group and he couldn’t have given himself away that easily. As if on cue I heard a gunshot behind us. Everything was a blur the first thing I saw was one of the trackers go down. the Darkling lashed out with the cut and missed cutting down a tree that barely missed us instead. 

“He’s just unconscious,” shouted a corporalnik that was tending to the soldier that had fallen.  
“They must want us alive.” I said to no one. Another soldier charged from behind the trees   
“Alina! Move!” Kate called at me I jumped out of her way just in time for her to send flames at the Fijerdan and light him on fire. 

I wished I could blind one of them with sunlight things would certainly be easier. the Darkling was back to back with Willow and summoning shadows that were creeping around us and scaring the remaining soldiers away. For now. We couldn’t go back to camp the way we came without leading them there. They must have known it existed for them to be that close but it was still better they didn’t know the easiest way to get there. 

The Darkling cast light shadows around us as we hiked deeper into the forest. It was just past noon and the summer sun was beating down even through the trees. Kate and I had given up sketching out what we thought would be useful since there were clearly Fijerdans in the forest. Suddenly the Darkling held up a hand to stop us. 

“Do you see anything,” I whispered to Kate. “because I can’t.”   
“Look to your right there’s branches moving.” 

I did but I couldn’t tell if it was an animal or an enemy. The Darkling cut the tip of the tree off probably to lure out what or who was hiding. I had my knife ready but I hoped that I didn’t need to use it. Another Fijerdan came running from the opposite direction the Darkling was looking. It took him a second too long to notice and a dart hit his arm. The last thing I should have felt was worried but I rushed to his side.   
“You okay?” I asked I asked whatever was in the dart was working fast and he didn’t have time to answer before he lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

I just barely caught the Darkling before he fell and hit the ground.  
“Hey wake up.” 

I shook him and hit him in the face harder than was necessary but he didn’t wake up and there was a Fijerdan soldier running in my direction. I wanted to use my powers but nobody could find out what I could do. I looked around at everyone and they were too caught up to pay attention to me.   
I summoned the cut and hoped for the best. I felt the surety that came with touching the Darkling and that helped me aim the cut, the burst of light that came with it was definitely not a good thing. 

The Fijerdan fell in half on the ground. I hoped that no one was paying closer attention that I thought they would or it would be clear I was the one who used the cut and not the Darkling who wasn’t showing any signs of regaining consciousness. Using my power without the amplifiers felt wrong. Like I was incomplete. There could be a chance they had landed near me and I could look for them but I had bigger problems to deal with at the moment. 

There were still several Fijerdans standing and we were outnumbered. This time I definitely couldn’t get away with the cut again so I drew my knife and tried to avoid the darts flying everywhere. In the midst of all the chaos I could have killed the Darkling so easily. Nobody would know it was me and he couldn’t fight back. But Ravka needed him in some ways. I needed to plan this carefully. Without him the second army wouldn’t have been created. Grisha would never have the closest to safety they would ever have. I noticed that a Fijerdan was charging directly at me and I barely had time to grab my knife and stab him. I took out my bloody knife the thought that this was my first of many kills flashed through my head there was so much happening that I didn’t have time to process it. 

I looked over at Kate who was fighting using flames and I felt a pang of jealousy. I hated hiding who I was again. And I had done all that hiding for Mal who was now dead. I knew that I have centuries to save him but it seems impossibly far away. The rest of the fight was a blur of trying to not get shot. 

I thought the size of the Fijerdans would make it harder to fight them buttons thankfully they stumbled around the forest with difficulty. It made it easy for me to stab the second one that came sprinting at me. He fell but he was still alive. If I were the person I was several months ago I would have let him live. But I wasn’t, I slit his throat and braced for the next attack. 

We were taking the lead and it wouldn’t be long before we defeated them. When they were all dead or had fled we regrouped and surprisingly nobody had been killed. The Darkling was still unconscious Willow had put his around her shoulder and I was surprised at how easily she was carrying him. The trackers were walking ahead leading us back to camp which wasn’t as far as I expected but I was still getting tired of walking through the thick forest. 

I couldn’t help but think of how if Mal were here with me he probably wouldn’t even pay attention to me he’d probably make friends with the other trackers and I’d eventually loose him forever. It was still better than him sacrificing himself in the catacombs for a mission that was almost certain to fail. We finally reached camp close to dusk and I went with Willow to go find a Healer. 

“Good job killing that Fijerdan.” Willow said  
“What’s good about killing someone?”   
“We’re at war it’s what we have to do. We might as well be good at it.”  
Even if they made it their life mission to kill us and burn us it still felt wrong to kill them.

The Healer said that the Darkling would probably wake up within several hours and the darts had only been made to keep someone unconscious so he would be fine. I could sense Willow’s worry as we left the tent still.

“The Healer said there’s nothing wrong you don’t need to worry.”   
I had never been good at comforting people so that was the best I could do.  
“I know but-“ Willow hesitated debating whether to tell me what she was going to tell me.  
“What is it?” I asked gently   
“You’re not grisha so it doesn’t matter but he’s an amplifier so killing him would make a greedy person very powerful.” 

I never considered that anyone would attempt to kill him that I always thought that attempting to murder him would be too hard and the punishment would be death but now he didn’t have any guards and something told me the murder wouldn’t get the punishment they deserved. 

“So now would be a good time for someone to kill him?”  
“Exactly. I’m probably being paranoid but there’s plenty of people who would do it if they knew.”  
I didn’t think it was very likely that it would happen but just to be sure Willow and I ate dinner in clear view of the tent.   
“The patrol went pretty well I thought.” Kate said as she came to sit by us.  
“Two people almost died.”   
Willow retorted   
If that was one that went well I didn’t want to know what one that didn’t go well was like. 

“We all almost died.” I muttered  
“We could’ve actually died” Kate replied I wondered again how she was always so positive but I was grateful for her nonetheless. Eventually Willow and Kate went to sleep but I couldn’t. I was more energized than I had been since I last used my power. It couldn’t hurt looking for my amplifiers. The worst thing that could happen was that they weren’t here. 

I grabbed a lantern and went to the outskirts of the camp where I had landed. Looking around at night was a pain in the ass but it was better than someone seeing me. Like everything else this too would be easier if I could summon light. I finally caught a glimpse of white and it was the fetter. Although it was broken in half the power was mine so it still worked. I could probably wrap something around it to put it back together and wear at least one of my amplifiers. 

The collar wasn’t far away and had also broken and it still worked. It pained me that I couldn’t wear it too but at least I had it. I shoved both the amplifiers in my backpack and hurried away before someone noticed me. I was wrapping a thin rope around the second amplifier when I overheard General Janazain and someone who’s voice I didn’t recognize talking behind the bushes.

“And you’re sure you saw someone summon light?”   
Said general Janazain skeptically. Saints. Someone must have seen me use the cut.   
“Yes. I couldn’t see who it came from but I saw a flash of light.”   
The voice I didn’t recognize said. It had to stay that way. 

“First a shadow summoner and now a Sun Summoner where do these abominations keep coming from.”   
General Janazain said bitterly. So I was right he didn’t like grisha. But why was the Darkling his second in command if he hated him. So much wasn’t adding up. At least I had my amplifiers and more hope than before that whatever mess I had gotten into I could get out.


	5. Chapter 5

I didn’t want anyone knowing that I had overheard them but I didn’t want to go to sleep yet so I ran to the cartographers tent. It was illuminated by a dim light and several shelves that were packed with maps lined the back of the large tent. I wanted to know what was happening right now so I pulled out a few maps to study.

My eyes were strained and wished I could summon even the smallest bit of light even if it was a terrible idea after overhearing what I just had. I was looking at the political boundaries when I saw that most of west Ravka was taken over by Fijerda. The land didn’t belong to them and I knew Ravka was eventually going to win it back but that didn’t change how my heart dropped when I realized I was in the middle of Ravka’s bloodiest wars. This war had lasted over ten years and thousands of people died. At least I was getting closer to knowing what year it was but I  
was searching maps for exact dates still.

The Darkling had created the fold about four years before the war was over so that narrowed me down to six years I could be in. I was searching the dates of maps and trying to order them most recent dates when I heard one of the flaps open and the Darkling walked into the tent.

“Sorry are you busy? I just need to get a map so I can write a report on the patrol.”  
The Darkling said scanning the maps I had laid out across the table.

“If you don’t mind can you help me with the second half of the report.”  
“Yes of course.” I said a little too eagerly.  
I was finally starting to earn his trust. I didn’t want to admit it to myself but I liked him. The Darkling seemed a bit taken aback by my enthusiasm but he just pulled a map off one of the area north of here. As we walked through camp I realized I was used to heads turning in the Darkling’s presence but nobody seemed care. 

Why would they? Right now he wasn’t one of the most powerful grisha to exist and he wasn’t the leader of the second army yet. We entered a small tent that seemed to act as an office and I assumed it was his. The desk was actually two crates with a wooden board resting on top of it and papers were everywhere. I honestly thought he would be more organized but I was beginning to realize that almost everything I guessed about him was wrong.  
“Well this is organized.” I said sarcastically. 

I didn’t even mean to say that but the words slipped. The Darkling laughed. I missed the sound of his laugh. Once again had a perfect chance to kill him. I had been in charge of the second army I could create instead of him. I could be free of hiding and reveal my powers so grisha would follow me. I could make up excuses about why I shouldn’t kill him but the truth was that I didn’t want to, it seemed so wrong to kill him for something he’d have no idea what he did. Did he any idea of what he could become?

“Can you explain what happened after I got knocked out and I’ll ask you questions to get this finished.”  
I explained everything that happened and finally the Darkling asked “About how many Fijerdans were there?”  
“I don’t know maybe fifteen.”  
“Something about this seems off.” the Darkling said more to himself than me.  
“You’re right even with grisha and being at an advantage in the forest it was too easy.” I didn’t know much about military tactics and I would definitely be able to plan something better than that.  
“They weren’t trying to kill us it would make sense if they wanted to capture one of us but that doesn’t explain why all of them had non lethal weapons and not just one or two. Did any of them run?”  
“Yeah but just a few.” 

Worry flashed across the Darkling’s face and I had feeling that we had fallen into some type of trap. The Darkling was writing something down and seemed to momentarily forget about me.

“I can do something too.” I said after a moment of silence. I felt awkward and kind of useless sitting next to the Darkling and doing nothing.  
“You can go now thanks for offering.  
the Darkling said quickly. I could hear in his voice that he was far more worried than he was admitting  
“What is going on? Tell me.” I asked sternly. The Darkling sighed and looked around as if someone could hear us before saying 

“I’m pretty sure General Janazain is a fijerdan spy. Those soldiers who got away could have snuck to him while we were preoccupied.” 

He ran a hand through his already messy hair. What he was saying explained General Janazain’s hatred for grisha while working with them. But it still didn’t make why he had the Darkling as his second in command. 

“I’m sure you’ll figure out something.” I reassured him.  
“And that’s what I need to do right now. Thanks for your help.”  
He said, it was getting late and I was wondering if he would get any sleep or if I would. That didn’t stop me from pulling my chair closer to the desk and saying  
“I’m helping even if you don’t want me to.”  
“Fine,”  
the Darkling said handing me a map “Look for where you think the best spots for Fijerdans would make camps so we can keep an eye on those places.”  
“You seem young to be doing all this.”  
“Nineteen isn’t that young.” he muttered still mostly focused on what he was working on. 

He could be lying about his age as he did when I first met him but he didn’t seem to have years and years of experience. Getting hit by that dart was something someone with more experience could’ve avoided and right now he looked like he hardly knew what he was doing.  
The Darkling briefly left the tent to get coffee and when he came back he handed me a cup. He too a sip and looked disgusted 

“Actually don’t drink that I accidentally put salt in it.”  
It was impossible not to laugh at him. I wondered how it would be before he would be the cold and ruthless leader I knew him to be. There would one day be almost nothing left of the boy who I was laughing at right now. What scared me was that this was my future too. I had good intentions now but after seeing hundreds of years of tragedy and war what would I become?

After working for I didn’t know how long I drifted into sleep. I woke up to the Surety of the Darkling’s power running through me when he shook my shoulder.

“Wake up.” He whispered  
I sat up and I could tell that it barely sunrise.  
“Did you sleep at all?” I asked him.  
“No but you’ve been sleeping at my desk for a few hours and I needed to get to the papers you were sleeping on.”  
“You should.”  
I told him He ignored me and continued working.  
“You put salt in your coffee you’re clearly sleep deprived.”  
I said a few minutes later  
“Maybe I wanted it like that.” He retorted  
“It’s not hard to sleep you just lay down on a bed and close your eyes. You should try it.”

The Darkling rolled his eyes but he was smiling at me. When I left the tent the sun was up and I scanned the camp for Willow and Kate. When I couldn’t find them I went back to the cartographers’ tent and cleaned up the maps I had gotten out last night. I thought of what the Darkling had said about General Janazain being a fijerdan spy. What if he told someone that there could be a Sun Summoner here? There could be disastrous consequences if I was discovered by anyone. 

I wondered what the Darkling would think of my power would he kill me or if he hadn’t even thought of the fold yet so he might not care. It annoyed me how much I thought of the Darkling. I should hate him, he had done everything to earn it but couldn’t.  
I was relieved when Kate walked inside and distracted me from thinking of the Darkling.  
“Good thing I found you General Janazain is questioning everyone who was on the patrol.”  
She said frantically Saints what if this was about what I overheard yesterday.  
“What does he want?”  
“Apparently someone saw someone summon light I didn’t see anything and it seems really unlikely.” 

If only it were as unlikely as she thought. Kate lead me to a tent right next to the one I was in with the Darkling last night. Willow was just walking out and gestured for me to go inside. When I entered General Janazain was sitting behind a desk and his harsh blue eyes were focused on me. He definitely looked Fijerdan the Darkling was definitely right to suspect him.

“Hello Starkov, what can you tell me about the reports of a Sun Summoner?”


	6. Chapter 6

Panic clawed at me as I sat down across from him. He didn’t look all that suspicious and he was interviewing everyone so he might not find out it was me. 

“I haven’t heard anything about it.” My voice came out higher than I would’ve liked and it was obvious I was lying.  
“Did you see anything that looked close to light on the patrol.” He asked it would be even more obvious I was lying if I said nothing happened when everyone else clearly saw something.  
“I saw a flash but I was trying not to get killed to really care.” I tried to sound confident but was failing miserably.   
General Janazain studied me for what was probably only a second but it felt too long. 

“You’re hair is an interesting color.” He eventually said. I had put my hair in a low bun and I was wearing a hat to cover it’s unusual color but it still stood out.   
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked now feeling insecure as well as scared.   
“Nothing,” I doubted that. “Get Lieutenant Morozova for me will you?”   
I still wasn’t used to everyone not calling him the by his title.   
“Yeah I’ll do that.” I said. It took a lot of effort to not sprint out of the tent. 

I eventually found the Darkling ordering people on where to go. There was probably something else happening soon.   
“Aleksander, General Janazain wants to see you.” Using his name was weird but if I addressed him any other way wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. 

“Ok thanks I’ll talk to him when I’m done with this.” He walked off to handle whatever he needed to. I wanted to talk to Willow. She could have possibly seen me summon light, if she did she probably would have told the Darkling. I found her training with someone I didn’t know she was a really good fighter and pinned her opponent easily. She saw me and came over when she was done. 

“Did General Janazain interview you too?” I asked  
“Yeah he did one for everyone. I couldn’t tell him much, I saw something but I thought I just looked at the sun too closely or something it’s nothing to worry about.” Easy for her to say she wasn’t hiding a power that could get her killed.   
“He seemed really suspicious of me.” I said, Unfortunately he had a right to be.  
“He’s creepy like that don’t let it bother you he hates grisha.”   
“Why does he have one as his second in command then?”   
It didn’t make any sense why he did but there had to be some logical exclamation for it.  
“Nobody really knows. Aleksander thinks it’s because he wants to monitor him closer but it doesn’t really work.” 

Willow seemed unbothered but I couldn’t help but think there was something else that could put him and all the other grisha here in danger. The Darkling had to know this, he made his distrust obvious. I was about to train with Willow when I heard gunshots. General Janazain was firing a pistol in the air and the whole camp had turned to look at him. 

“We found the Sun Summoner,”   
saints what was I going to do. “She hid her powers from us and as you know the punishment for that is death.”   
He continued but he wasn’t looking at me and gestured for two soldiers to step forward. They were holding a girl who was struggling frantically   
“Please I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She sobbed 

I recognized her from the patrol, General Janazain must have thought she was the Sun Summoner and not me. I was about to interject when I heard a loud crack and knew it was the cut. The Darkling hadn’t done much damage other than splitting a few empty crates in half but it was certainly enough to get everyone’s attention. I was a good distance from him and I could still tell he was furious.

“What do you think you’re doing. You have no evidence for this.”   
He shouted General Janazain barely gave the Darkling a glance before firing his pistol at the girl. She hit the ground in an instant and didn’t move. She was dead and it was because of my recklessness. 

“I have enough to kill her.” He said after a moment of shocked silence. I turned to Willow and she looked equally as shocked and disturbed as I probably did. At least this meant nobody thought I was the Sun Summoner anymore. That did little to make up for the guilt of being responsible for her death. 

“Are you okay?” Willow asked gently   
“Yeah” I lied “just shocked that he’d kill someone like that.”   
“It’s pretty messed up but unfortunately that’s the reality of being grisha.” Willow said softly I was beginning to understand the Darkling’s motivation to create the second army a bit better.

Even in Ravka where grisha were supposed to be safe we were still treated like this. I looked for the Darkling in the crowd. I found him taking to one of the soldiers that had held the girl that was killed. He was calmer than he was a few minutes ago but I could tell whatever he was saying wasn’t good. I barely caught a glimpse of the dagger he drew before he stabbed the soldier he was talking to. They fell and didn’t move. There was the Darkling I knew. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk to him after seeing him kill a man but I found myself walking over to him. 

“I’d think that you would at least try to hide the fact that you killed someone.” I said ad a greeting when I reached him.  
“He deserved it and unfortunately I can’t kill General Janazain.” the Darkling said, he had blood on his uniform and didn’t give the dead body a second look.  
“Won’t you get in trouble?” He had authority but surely he couldn’t go around stabbing people without punishment.  
“General Janazain fears power that isn’t his.” 

Someone was trying to get the Darkling’s attention and he left me standing next to the dead soldier. I didn’t want to be associated with his murder so I went to the cartographers’ tent to draw maps. Even Kate didn’t talk as we worked. 

I thought of how the Darkling was willing to fight to keep the person accused of being the Sun Summoner alive I was worried that he’d try to kill me but General Janazain was clearly more of a threat. I worked for the rest of the day and eventually Kate and I left the tent to get dinner. 

The sun had set and the only light was from lanterns and fires lit around the camp Almost everyone had finished their tasks from the day and were sitting around a campfire. It felt almost peaceful despite what had happened just hours ago.   
We found the Darkling and Willow sitting next to each other by a fire. The Darkling was so close to Willow and it pained me to think of what he would feel when he inevitably lost her and how he would loose everyone else he loved too. 

We went to join them. The Darkling had changed out of his bloody uniform and was wearing a black jacket closer to what I was used to seeing him wear, the glow of the fire highlighted the the perfect features of his face and I found myself admiring him.

“You’re really quiet tonight are you okay?” Willow asked the Darkling. I hadn’t noticed but now that Willow mentioned it she was right.   
“Yeah I just wish I could have done more to help her.”   
I immediately knew he was talking about the girl who had been killed earlier. At least he did something I just stood frozen while she died for something that was my fault.

“I can’t believe he shot her with so little evidence.” Kate said breaking the silence that had settled around us.   
“I wonder what would’ve happened if she revealed her powers.” Willow had a good point. What would have happened to me?

“I don’t know but it would have been nice to know someone who’s power was different.” the Darkling said softly, my heart drop at his words. He would always want someone to balance his power and I could be that person. Today had just proved that it was a terrible idea to summon light but I wanted to even more now.  
“Can you do anything to stop him from doing something like that again?” I asked the Darkling. 

“This just proves that he’s getting paranoid I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t tried to kill me yet is because it would be almost impossible.”   
“And we just need to find something against him .” Kate said sounding almost excited. I looked to the Darkling trying to figure out what he thought of us possibly trying to expose General Janazain but his face was unreadable, the only thing I knew was that he was planning something


	7. Chapter 7

The last thing I expected to happen when I went back in time was that I would end up helping the Darkling again. Only this time I was trying to stop someone from harming any more grisha. Wasn’t that close to his motivation the last time I helped him? He expanded the fold to protect Ravka. Did whatever he did to create it start out somewhat normal like this. 

We spent the rest of dinner discussing what we thought General Janazain was going to do and came up with several theories. The only one that made a lot of sense was that he was working with Fijerda and spying on Ravka. We decided not to risk being overheard so we went to the same tent I was in with the Darkling last night. 

“How do you get anything it’s so messy in here.” Willow was complaining  
“It’s not that bad it’s just papers.” The Darkling retorted, he was cleaning up so Willow’s scolding was working.  
“I sound like your mother or something.” Willow said  
“If you did you’d be hitting me with a cane.”  
“Sounds like fun.” Willow muttered  
“How would getting hit with a cane be fun?”  
“No, hitting you with a cane sounds fun birdbrain.”  
“I hate you.” the Darkling said affectionately 

Their bickering reminded me of all the times I had had conversations like that with Mal. I wished he was here but I knew it was better that he wasn’t, there was a high chance we could get killed, as much as I missed him I didn’t want him here, the Darkling warned us that plotting against him could very well kill us. We needed evidence to get anywhere so the best thing to do was wait until something happened and we found enough evidence to expose him.

Nobody wanted to risk being overheard so they all went to sleep. Despite barely sleeping the night before I couldn’t. I kept thinking of the poor girl who died to keep my secret. I should have done something. My power not being revealed made my chances of defeating the Darkling better but if I let people die for me like that how was I any better than him? 

“Get up there’s been a sighting of Fijerdans in the forest again.”  
Willow said while waking me up just after I fell asleep after hours of trying. The barely risen sun made the whole sky a deep pink.  
“Slow down.” I grumbled as I got dressed. 

Willow had her hair tied up and somehow looked like she had been awake for hours. I rushed to the cartographers’ tent but apparently I didn’t need to worry about drawing anything so I grabbed a rifle from one the many storage tents and slung it over my shoulder. It was awkward and heavy but I needed to be able to defend myself without summoning and this was the best I could do.

Instead of doing a patrol like last time we were divided into partners and searched whatever direction General Janazain assigned us. Of course I ended up having to be with the Darkling. I hated to admit that I was happy that I had to go with him, I already knew it would be another perfect opportunity to kill him that I wouldn’t take.  
The Darkling and I left the camp and even though we were supposed to go south of the camp he lead east once we were out of sight of the border.

“We’re supposed to south, why are we headed east?” I questioned  
“General Janazain sent only two other people in this direction he could be hiding something.”  
“How long have you suspected him?” I asked  
“I probably should have caught onto him sooner but about two months ago when he sent several grisha deep into Fijerdan land, when they came back they reported to me that they caught him with a group of drüskelle When I questioned him about it he denied it and executed the soldiers who reported to me.”  
“You’re powerful enough, why not just kill him?”  
I had a feeling that I shouldn’t press him but there had to be a reason he didn’t just kill him and I intended find out.

“As much as I’d like to kill him he is more useful alive eventually and I could torture him and give him a death closer to what he deserves. But to do that we need to prove one of our theories correct.”  
“You’re certainly charming.”  
I hoped my sarcasm didn’t come across rude, he smiled at me so I assumed he didn’t really care.  
“Well I’m obviously trying to seduce you with talking about torture.”  
“It’s working” 

I had never really tried flirting with anyone before and hoped I wasn’t doing too terribly. Was that what this was? The Darkling ran a hand through his hair that had fallen into his face from the wind, his cheeks were slightly pink. Either I had made him blush or they were flushed from the wind. I liked the first option better.

The forest was denser than where I was before, there was a small path that the Darkling and I were on but I still constantly stumbled over rocks. Although it was the middle of summer the air was cold and the fog that settled around us gave me an uneasy feeling. I knew if Mal were here we would’ve already found whatever we were supposed to be looking for. I tried not to think about him but he was always what I ended up thinking of.

The Darkling suddenly stopped in front of me and I caught a glimpse of something silver half buried in the dirt off the path. When the Darkling picked it I was surprised when he flinched and dropped it immediately.  
“What happened?” I asked him, noticing his bloody hand.  
“Grisha cuffs.”  
The handcuffs on the ground looked completely normal but I knew they could do far more damage than normal handcuffs.

I recalled learning about them in history. Grisha cuffs were used as a cruel method of weakening grisha, I didn’t remember exactly how they worked. I did know while they were on they were extremely painful and grisha wouldn’t be able to use their powers for several hours after they were off. Fortunately they were extremely difficult to make and eventually fabrikators found a way around them being created and they hadn’t been used for hundreds of years. Unfortunately it seemed they could be used now. 

“Alina can you just throw them in the river they won’t hurt you since you’re not grisha.”  
I cringed at the thought of touching it, I reminded myself that whatever General Janazain would do to me if my power was revealed was going to be worse. When I picked them up my hand throbbed, as fast as I could I I tossed them into the river. I only touched the cuffs for a second but my whole body felt tired and along with my hand my head was also throbbing. I shoved my hands in my pockets before the Darkling noticed anything wrong. 

I had never been good at walking long distances but we barely hiked for three miles and I was growing tired, I guessed it was because of the grisha cuffs that I was getting tired this early. At least the Darkling was also affected so we were moving at a slower pace than before. I heard rustling in the bushes nearby and assumed it was and animal, the forest was thick but surely a Fijerdan couldn’t be hiding. There was a loud crack and the Darkling sent the cut in the direction, only it barely did anything. 

“Damn grisha cuffs.” the Darkling swore  
“Hopefully it was just an animal or something. I said although I knew that it wasn’t likely.  
“We need to-“ the Darkling never finished his sentence thanks to a Fijerdan attacking us from behind. I blindly fired my rifle and somehow hit him.  
“What do we do now?” I asked the Darkling on the small chance he’d prepared for this.  
“Run”


	8. Chapter 8

Hopefully the Darkling had an idea of where we were running to because I sure didn’t. All I knew was that there were at three Fijerdans on our tails and I couldn’t keep running for much longer. 

“You have a gun shoot someone!” the   
Darkling shouted,   
“Don’t you have a weapon?”   
“I forgot.”  
Of course he thought he’d use his power and couldn’t. His power would come back in an hour or two but that didn’t do us much good right now. I wondered how he felt without them. He seemed fine but it was hard to tell when we were running for our lives. 

The ache in my head wasn’t as painful as before, that was probably only because of adrenaline. I turned around and saw two Fijerdan soldiers sprinting at us. I fired and missed.   
“Aim lower.” the Darkling said,   
I could tell he was annoyed at me even though he didn’t show it. I took his advice and fired again. One of the soldiers went down and the other was still chasing us. 

I tried to hit him and missed several times. By now the entire forest knew we were here, which meant more Fijerdans were going to find us. I tried to fire again but nothing happened.   
“It’s jammed.” I said fighting my rising panic.  
“Give it to me.” I handed the rifle to the Darkling.   
“It’s empty not jammed, reload it.” Saints. I didn’t bring any extra bullets.   
“I don’t have any extra bullets.”   
“Do you see that ridge up there?” the Darkling said “We need to climb up there so we have higher ground, then set off a rockslide to kill or distract them.”  
“Are you sure that’s a good plan?”   
“It’s...a plan.” He offered

Great. Even he didn’t have a good idea. There wasn’t anything else to do but try to make it to the ridge. Both of us were slowing and the Fijerdans weren’t. I hit the nearest one with the back of my rifle and he fell to the ground. After winding around the trees we lost the rest of them but not for long. I knew I needed to keep running but it was growing difficult. When we finally reached the ridge I was relieved until I realized I had to climb. The ridge was more like a cliff now that I saw it up close. The forest was thinning and the Fijerdans would track us down soon. We had no choice but to climb.

“You can go ahead” the Darkling said,   
I noticed his voice seemed slightly higher than normal. I started climbing and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I looked down at the Darkling who was falling behind me. 

“Are you okay down there?” I said as quietly as I could.  
“I suppose now wasn’t the best time for me to overcome my fear of heights.”   
I wanted to drop a rock on his head. This was his stupid plan and he already was failing.   
“You’re right. It absolutely wasn’t!”   
I didn’t care if any Fijerdans heard us anymore.   
“It didn’t look as high when I saw it from a distance.” the Darkling said.   
“Well you’re committed now.”

I would’ve flipped him off but I needed to keep both hands on the rock.   
“Tell me before I get up there, which will be worse dealing with you or getting shot by a Fijerdan?”   
I pulled myself over the edge, I was at the top and the Darkling was barely halfway up.  
“You’re pathetic.”   
Maybe he worked better under pressure?  
“Shut up I’m trying!”   
Well that didn’t work. I just needed to wait for him. My adrenaline was wearing off and the throbbing in my hand and head was returning. It took an eternity and lots of threats but the Darkling finally made it to the top.  
“What’s the next part of your horrible plan?”   
There wasn’t any ways of starting a rockslide that I could think of.   
“You’re going to kill me but now that we’re actually up here my plan won’t work.”   
I could see the fear in his eyes, I wasn’t sure if it was from the height or because of me. I slapped him across the face.   
“Slapping me won’t make me think of a plan.” said the Darkling   
“I know. I just felt like slapping you.” 

He was definitely going to hate me after this.   
“I have an idea.” I announced.   
It wasn’t better than his but I was open to anything at this point.   
“We lead them to us and when they climb almost to the top we hit them with with a rock or stick and then they’ll fall and die.” It wasn’t the most effective way to kill someone but it would have to do.

“A bit violent but it’ll probably work.”   
said the Darkling, now that we were stopped I could see that he didn’t look much better than I felt. He’d somehow gotten a cut on his jaw and his hand was still bleeding. 

“How long do you think we have until they find us?” I asked   
“Probably not long, we weren’t exactly quite.”   
I didn’t know why this made me me feel worse than shooting the Fijerdans. This wasn’t as fast as a gun but not by much. These were drüskelle, they had definitely done far worse to grisha than we were about to do to them. I scanned the forest trying to spot people.  
“Can you see anyone down there?” I said turning to the Darkling.  
“I don’t want to look down.” He replied 

I wanted to tell him to do something but I wasn’t really sure what that would be. How did either of us run the second army and this was the best we could come up with? I continued to look for anything in the forest while the Darkling sat there being useless. Well not entirely useless since some of his power had returned and he was keeping us hidden. The sun was setting and making it hard to see so hopefully the drüskelle found us soon so we could get back to camp before dark.

“They must be trying to draw us out.” the Darkling said breaking the long silence that had settled around us.   
“If you’re right then we need to rethink this.” I whispered  
“What if we drew them out?”   
he had the right idea but how would we do that?   
The Darkling’s shadows were beginning to flicker and I could see that he was growing tired. Something needed to be done soon.

Something about this seemed wrong. It wasn’t at all like the soldiers we had fought before. There was nothing stopping them from climbing up here. The Darkling and I were both exhausted, even though we had the high ground we were at a disadvantage. Unless we weren’t their focus.   
“I think we walked into a trap.” I said   
“How so?” the Darkling asked   
I explained that the Fijerdans could have been trying to get rid of us and go to wherever they needed to be. I wasn’t exactly sure where that was yet. 

“They could be trying to communicate with General Janazain. We need to find them soon.”   
the Darkling was right. If anything passes between General Janazain and the drüskelle we need to stop them. The Darkling and I decided to find a different way down than the way we came up since it would take an eternity and I didn’t want to climb down in the dark any more than he did. When I stood up I was dizzy from how tired I was. Walking several miles and fighting Fijerdans without weapons seemed impossible. 

Eventually we found a steep path hidden in the bushes. The sun was no longer visible from behind the mountains the only light was the few rays of light seeping through the trees were the only thing keeping me from tripping over tree roots and rocks. I expected to be gone a few hours and didn’t bring a lantern. If I didn’t need to hide my power that wouldn’t be a problem. I longed for Mal to be with me even though it would put him at risk. I missed having him at my side for everything. Although I liked the Darkling’s presence far more than I wanted to admit. 

We were almost at the camp when saw two dark figures sneaking away from the boundary. We were too late.


	9. Chapter 9

I wanted to believe that the people who snuck away from the camp were just sneaking away to have fun, it probably happened all the time. That was too much of a coincidence.  
“Do you think we should go back to camp to get weapons and then catch them?” I asked the Darkling. 

“I wish but we’ve been gone for so long that we’ll draw too much attention.” the Darkling said. The little light from the moon helped me see the disappointment written across his face. Part of me was relieved that I would get to return to camp and get some sleep. Even though we failed .

“Where were you! You could’ve been captured or killed I was so worried about you guys.”  
Willow said as a greeting while throwing her arms around the Darkling, almost knocking him over.  
Once again I was reminded of what I used to have with Mal. The Darkling was explaining what happened to Willow but I was barely focused on them. I was more focused on General Janazain glaring at us from across the camp. Was it his hatred for grisha; more specifically the Darkling or had we somehow given ourselves away. The Darkling and I weren’t particularly subtle, could the Fijerdans have caught onto us? I was too tired to think about it too closely. It was late and fortunately I didn’t need to do anything before going to sleep.

I woke up the next morning to the Darkling gently shaking my shoulder. It was certainly better than how Willow woke me up the previous morning.  
“This is the girl’s tent what are you doing here you creep.” I muttered into my pillow  
“It’s almost noon there’s nobody else in here.”  
How did I get away with sleeping in so much?  
“How-“

“I told everyone that you were on a supply run so you could sleep in but they’re back now so get up.” the Darkling said while offering me a cup of coffee.  
“Is there sugar or salt in it?” I teased  
“Sugar. You’re not going to let me forget that are you?” The Darkling said. 

I noticed that he was blushing. I liked making him blush more than I should.  
“Never.”  
the Darkling left the tent and I quickly changed. The sky was dark and I could tell it was going to rain. I rushed to help move the new supplies, I did my best to act like I’d been helping the entire time. I felt bad that I hadn’t helped Kate with anything yet but I couldn’t find her anywhere so she probably didn’t need my help. Or she was mad at me.

I was moving the new supplies when General Janazain approached me. Saints he was the last person I wanted to talk to.  
“You need to talk to me about the patrol when you’re done with this.” He said.  
I couldn’t think of what I possibly could have done to make him hate me but definitely did. I worked significantly slower to avoid taking to him, I knew I would have to eventually and when the rain started I finally sulked to his tent. The Darkling was already there and I’d walked into into some type of argument. Did they ever not argue? 

“Hey” I said as an awkward announcement that I was here.  
“Alina, tell General Janazain that that we didn’t disobey his orders.” the Darkling said, the look he was giving me said that he would murder me if I told the truth.  
“Umm...yeah we did exactly what we were supposed to do.”  
Why did I have to be so bad at lying?  
“You can’t expect me to be that oblivious can you?” General Janazain clearly saw right through my lie so I improvised.  
“Well we were patrolling and then we thought we saw something so we went to investigate it.” 

My lie came out better than before thank saints although that was mostly thanks to my fear of the Darkling cutting me in half for giving us away.  
“Alina’s right, I probably should have clarified that.” the Darkling said, going along with what I’d made up. 

“Remember Lieutenant, the only reason you’re here is because the king wants you to be.”  
Why didn’t the Darkling mention the king when I asked him about that yesterday?  
Everything he told me when I was taken to the little palace was a lie so why was I surprised he was lying to me again? 

I looked to the Darkling, his expression unreadable.  
“I know, and I guarantee he’d take my word over yours if he were here.”  
“He’d only take it because he’s afraid of your power.” General Janazain countered  
“You fear it too.” the Darkling was eerily calm for the rage that showed in his eyes. Darkness began to flood around the tent.  
“I have every right to fear a freak like you.” He spat  
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard him say that. The Darkling flinched but collected himself quickly and drew a knife.  
“Say that again.”  
he said pressing the knife to General Janazain’s face. I saw that the shadows that flooded the tent a few seconds were gone.

“Are you insane!” General Janazain shouted. I was beginning to wonder the same thing. The Darkling was powerful, nobody could get away with what he was doing right now though.  
“Do you want to question my word with a knife to your face?”  
I could’ve sworn that along with his anger the Darkling was enjoying this.  
“I- no you’re dismissed.”  
“That’s what I thought.” 

The Darkling disappeared without me noticing the instant we left the tent. I wanted to ask him what General Janazain meant about the king but I that was probably a bad idea considering how mad he seemed. The caffeine from the coffee I’d had earlier was wearing off and I was growing tired. My headache was gone although I didn’t feel better than I did last night thanks to my whole body being sore from running and climbing.

It was raining steadily so I needed to work inside the tent. While working I kept thinking back to the tent. The Darkling had actually been pretty nice to me since I arrived which surprised me. Then in an instant he was manipulative and heartless, more like who I knew he’d be in the future. What part of him was he only showing when he needed to and what was real?

The rest of the day dragged on, mapmaking wasn’t very interesting. It was the only thing I could’ve done when I joined the first army so I took the position to be with Mal. I should have found a more interesting job here. Eventually it got too dark to do anything and I went to go eat dinner. 

I found the Darkling pretty quickly, I almost didn’t think of how I shouldn’t be spending so much time with my enemy.  
“Sorry I have to get some work done.” He said when I approached him. Only he didn’t sound sorry, he almost sounded nervous. What was he hiding this time?  
“What kind of work?”  
I wasn’t going to let him hide something else from me.  
“Something confidential.” he was being quiet, as if not wanting to be heard. Which only made me want to know more. 

I raised an eyebrow, I probably wasn’t going to get answers but it was worth a try.  
“It’s nothing that important, just trust me.” the Darkling said.  
“Why should I trust you?” I asked  
“Have I done anything to prove you shouldn’t?” he had a point.  
“You can summon darkness from nothing and cut me in half obviously I don’t trust you.”  
I regretted saying that the instant I said it. I caught a small glimpse of the hurt that flashes across his face before he turned away from me.  
“Really? Something I was born with and have no control over is why you don’t trust me! Do you think I’d want this if I had the choice?” He snapped  
“Wait,” I cried out knowing it was pointless. he didn’t stop. I couldn’t blame him, I’d sure as hell be furious and hurt if someone said that to me. It wasn’t the smart choice but I trailed after him. It was more to apologize than to see what he was doing but when he crossed the edge of the camp border I forgot about apologizing and turned to spying instead.


	10. Chapter 10

I followed the Darkling from a distance as he left the camp. He didn’t go to the forest   
where I’d gone the times I left the camp. There was still enough cover from bushes for me to go unseen. Where was he going? This seemed like a dangerously open area, especially for something so secretive. 

I was still following the Darkling when he came to a stop in a clearing. He was almost out of sight from my hiding spot. I had to get closer to him. I bolted to nearest bush and stepped on a branch. It didn’t make much sound. Still enough for the Darkling to hear and fire a pistol in my direction. Not the cut. I noted. 

That could have been because he didn’t want to give away that he was grisha. Or it was because of my words. Either way guilt rose in my chest. What was I thinking? I wasn’t worried about loosing his trust anymore. I was worried about how I hurt him and how I wanted to stay friends with him. 

I peeked from behind the grass and bushes to get a better glimpse at what the Darkling was doing. The Darkling was fidgeting with the cuff of his jacket. My best guess was that he was waiting for someone. Several minutes dragged on and I finally saw a figure approaching the Darkling.

At first I thought he was fijerdan from his blonde hair but I got a better look and he wasn’t tall enough and didn’t have the blue eyes they usually had. Also the Darkling would kill him in an instant if he was. I was straining to hear them and much to my frustration they were speaking kerch, which I didn’t know. I tried to read their facial expressions. Unfortunately in the dark I couldn’t see much. I wasn’t going to find anything out. 

I was about find my way back to camp when the Darkling pulled out of his pocket what had to be at least five hundred kurge. Why and how did he have that much kurge? It would be useless in Ravka. After they exchange the money whoever the Darkling was talking to to left. I turned away and was about to make my way to the next bush to hide behind when I heard the Darkling. 

“What are you doing here?”   
The harshness in his voice stung.   
“Trying to see what you’re doing.”   
“Do you know what confidential means?”   
He somehow sounded even more angry than a few seconds ago.   
“Well whatever I just saw shows that I was right to follow you!”   
“I promise that I’ll explain everything soon just trust me- oh wait you don’t because of something I can’t control!”  
“I didn’t mean it like that!” I was getting really frustrated at his pettiness   
“Just shut up!”   
the Darkling looked almost shocked at what he just said. 

I hated that he had a good point. His power wasn’t something he chose. I doubted there would be any grisha if we could choose our power. I wondered what could have happened between us if we weren’t opposites. If we weren’t enemies I could have given into my heart. I was about to apologize when a gunshot went off.

The safer and more logical idea would be to run away from the gunshot but we went to investigate anyway. We searched around for about a half hour. Whoever fired that gun didn’t want the body being found. I found the gun lying on the ground with no sign of who fired it. It was a distraction. We found the body of the man the Darkling met up with a little while ago with a knife in his heart. 

“Damn it he was the best source for information.” the Darkling muttered   
“Of course you’re only worried about the information and not the fact he could’ve had a family.” I probably shouldn’t have said anything else to anger him but he was already furious with me so I didn’t care anymore.  
“He’d have to be really stupid to agree to this and have a family.”   
“How do you know he wasn’t really stupid?” I challenged 

The Darkling just rolled his eyes and sighed. The clouds were clearing and the moonlight made it easier to see. That meant I could see how annoyed at me the Darkling was. 

“Do you think it was a Fijerdan?” the Darkling questioned.   
“I doubt there’s anyone else that would kill him.”   
hopefully that was true, I still wasn’t entirely sure what the situation was here. The Darkling and I walked alongside the river to cover our noise. 

Hiking was the last thing I wanted to be doing considering what I needed to go through last night. The fear that someone would come charging out of the bushes was the only thing keeping me from falling asleep in the grass. How did the Darkling never seem tired? He was keeping a brutal pace, I had a feeling he wanted me to fall behind so I couldn’t talk to him. Well I didn’t want to talk to him either.   
I heard a snap ahead of me and it was too far away to be the Darkling. The drüskelle found us. 

“Please tell me you were at least smart enough to bring a weapon.”   
It wasn’t much but I pulled a knife out of my pocket. The Darkling was less than impressed. We got back to back and I felt the rush of him amplifying my power. I wished I could use it. If I revealed it would the Darkling understand I didn’t mean what I said earlier. 

That was the least my problems when the drüskelle got tired of waiting and attacked. I drew my knife and circled the soldier who was concentrating on me. I needed him to attack first in order to have an advantage. My heart was pounding and my anxiety was climbing. What was he doing? Why wasn’t he attacking? I risked a glance at the Darkling, he was summoning shadows around the other soldier to lure him to his death. 

That was my mistake. The other soldier knew I would eventually look away from him and used that as a chance to attack me. I stepped out of the way just out of his path. In the forest I had an advantage thanks to Fijerdans being large and clumsy but here out in the open I was at a disadvantage. 

The Fijerdan regained his control and drew a far better blade than I had. I backed up until I was knee deep in the river. I thought maybe he could slip on a rock and I didn’t know where else to go. I when he chased me, I reached my free hand into the river and hurled a rock at his head. I missed and hit him in the chest. 

I didn’t do much other then send him running back to the shore. I followed him and lunged forward with my knife. He grabbed my wrists an instant before the blade entered his chest. I kicked him hard in the knee which made him falter and release my wrists while throwing me back. 

I stumbled and lashed out with my knife. I heard him cry out so I cut him. It took me a little too long to recover and the fijerdan managed to stab me. Pain sliced through my side and I fell to the ground. The fijerdan was about to deliver a killing blow when I mustered the last of my strength to slit his throat. 

Blood soaked my shirt, some of it was the fijerdan’s, however most of it was mine. I got up but I only made it a few paces before I collapsed. I was loosing blood fast. Where was the Darkling? I didn’t want to move and make my wound worse. I turned my head and saw him. He looked fine other than a slight limp. The grass was too tall for me to see if the other soldier had fallen but I knew he had to have been killed. The Darkling wouldn’t let him live. 

Black spots were appearing in my vision which definitely wasn’t a good thing. Somehow my side was throbbing even more than before. Did waking a few paces make it worse? I pressed my hands to the wound to slow the bleeding but it sent another wave of pain crashing over me. 

“Alina. Where are you?” the Darkling called out   
“Over here.” I croaked   
The Darkling rushed to my side.   
“Saints are you okay?”   
None of his anger was there anymore. Only concern.   
“Not really, I got stabbed.”   
Even on the verge of bleeding out I wanted to get on his nerves. The Darkling picked me up gently. The surety of his touch made me feel slightly better. I blacked out for a second before the Darkling shook me.   
“Try to stay awake.” He spoke softly. That seemed like too much effort but I still tried. And failing. The Darkling was trying to keep me conscious. Everything hurt and I was growing tired.   
“Stay with me.” urged the Darkling  
I couldn’t. That was the last thing I heard before the world blackened around me.


	11. Chapter 11

When I woke up the wound in my side was only a small ache, I must’ve been taken to a Healer. I sat up and saw that the Darkling was sitting in the chair next to my bed. 

“Hey thanks for saving my ass.”   
I said, my throat was so dry it hurt to talk. The Darkling’s face softened with relief, was he really that worried? 

“No problem I’m glad you’re okay.” he said while handling me a glass of water. I still needed to apologize I realized after a moment of awkward silence.  
“I’m sorry for what I said last night.” 

“It’s okay I was already mad about what General Janazain said and I took it out on you too much.”   
I almost forgot General Janazain had said something even worse than I did, it felt so long ago. I was surprised he forgave me that easily. 

“I honestly didn’t think you would accept my apology.”   
“I was too worried to be mad at you.”  
“That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook I still want to know what you were doing.”

I half expected him to refuse but the Darkling sighed and said   
“The man I was meeting with was a Kerch trader who does a lo of trade with Fijerda and I was bribing him into telling me what they were ordering to get a better idea as to what they were doing.”  
“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”   
It didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

“If anyone were to question you, you couldn’t give answers.”   
That was a light way of saying that if I were tortured I wouldn’t be able to reveal anything no matter how badly I wanted to.  
It made perfect sense but I still wished he told me.  
“Does anyone else know?” I asked   
the Darkling glanced at the ground, breaking eye contact with me. 

“Who else knows?” I repeated   
“Just Willow, the only reason she knows is because her brother is the one who hired the Kerch trader and I just get the information and bring the money.” 

“Why does Willow’s brother want that information?”   
“I don’t know exactly he works in Ravkan trade, I only do it because it’s useful for me to know too.”   
“Why doesn’t Willow just do it?”   
“She’s not on good terms with the rest of her family other than her brother if something were to happen the consequences would be far higher for her than me.” the Darkling explained 

Even though I still had questions I didn’t press, I knew it wasn’t my place to ask. The Darkling left the tent after that and I was about to as well when a Healer told me that I needed to rest for a day and let them make sure that everything healed correctly. I was grateful when Kate walked in a few minutes after the Darkling left.

“How are you?” She greeted   
“I’m fine, just bored.”   
I’d been awake for about ten minutes and I was already bored.   
“I can get supplies and you can make the maps you need to catch up on.” Kate offered  
“That’s more boring.” I teased  
“Well you’re going to need to do it sometime soon, we’re going to attack the nearest Fijerdan camp when our scouts find it.”   
“What? When was this supposed to happen?”  
I’d clearly missed a lot while I was unconscious.  
“Aleksander must’ve forgotten to tell you, we’ve had so many problems with them in the past week he started planning an attack.” Kate explained 

I’d only been here for a week so I just thought this was normal but I apparently it wasn’t. Why didn’t the Darkling say something about this when I woke up? I doubted it was just because he forgot. Was he trying to protect me? I wanted to go despite the possibility that the Darkling might not want me to. Hell, that made me want to go more. 

“Fine,” I said to Kate, “I’ll work on the maps.”   
She smiled and headed to the cartographers’ tent to get what I needed. Kate kept me company while we worked on map of the area we were going to attack. 

The next few days after I was able to leave the Healer’s tent passed in a blur of hauling weapons around and drawing maps to use for plans. I didn’t see the Darkling much since we were both so busy getting ready for the attack. One night I caught him talking to General Janazain. 

“Do you have any idea how reckless attacking is?” General Janazain whispered   
sharply   
“We’ve had increasing problems with them and pretty soon people will die.”   
the Darkling snapped, keeping his voice low. 

I didn’t really want to hear an argument right now I was intrigued.   
Why was General Janazain just now questioning the Darkling’s decision. We’d been planning for several days. Branches snapped behind them breaking up their argument.

When I knew I wasn’t in danger of the Darkling suspecting I overheard him I followed him to his tent. I didn’t exactly have a reason to talk to him but I wanted to. 

“Hey, I had a question.” I said,  
he was slumped in the wooden chair behind his desk. The candlelight illuminated how exhausted he looked. 

“What is it?”   
“I’m just a little bit confused about what exactly I’ll be doing during the attack.”  
“You’ll be here.”   
“Why?” the saltiness in my voice came out more than I intended   
“I don’t want to risk you after you were hurt so recently.”  
“I want to go, you’re forgetting that I’ve had experience and killed several Fijerdans.” I was expecting him to fight me but he just said  
“Okay, you can go just don’t expect me to help you again.” 

I left him and went to my tent. I slid my bag from under my cot. The stag’s antlers were buried underneath my extra clothes, I pulled them out and tied them to fit around my neck. If anything went wrong I’d need them.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up to wind howling and whipping against the tent. I was relieved that the wind meant I would be able to wear a scarf to cover the collar without anyone questioning it. I wouldn’t be giving myself away as a saint but wearing antlers around my neck would still draw unwanted attention.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet and and the camp was already wide awake. We were leaving to attack the Fijerdan camp today. It was a two day’s journey away which I wasn’t looking forward to. The high winds made it impossible to make any maps thanks to papers blowing everywhere. Kate and I weren’t assigned to do anything else. She was keeping a small fire under control while I braided her curly hair. 

A little while later we needed to meet in the center of the camp to go over our plan once more time. There was about thirty of us going and most of the other soldiers were grisha. The Darkling explained that we would wait for a patrol to leave and then attack while there was less people there. I agreed with all his decisions until he said that along with a few other soldiers I would be backup. 

It was an improvement from not going at all but I still didn’t think it was fair that after I proved myself several times I could hold my ground in a fight. When we were done going over the plan. 

“Backup? Really?” I said as I sat next to the Darkling. He was sitting on a rock next to one of the fires while writing something.

“You’re lucky that I was too tired to argue with you and you’re even going.”

I sighed, it seemed pretty pointless to argue with him and being annoying wasn’t going to help me get closer to stopping him from creating the fold. 

A gust of wind blew hair into my face, I was a bit surprised when the Darkling brushed it out of my face. The surety of his power was calming as it rushed through me. I made eye contact with him for a brief moment and smiled at him. He gave me the same half smile he’d given me a few times at the little palace. 

The Darkling got distracted by something and left me sitting alone. I gathered the  
notes he left behind so they wouldn’t blow away. I didn’t really know why I thought I would find anything of importance when I flipped through his messy notes. As far as I knew he didn’t have much to hide yet. He was also smart enough to not write it down.

We left camp about a half hour later and headed in the direction the scouts said the camp was. Although I’d been in the army long enough to be used to walking long distances I still hated it. I wanted to talk to the Darkling although I didn’t know exactly what I would say. When I looked around at the people the Darkling chose I noticed that all of them were grisha except for Willow. 

After hiking through the mountains we came into a meadow about a mile away from the Fijerdan camp. The Darkling took several grisha to get a better look at the camp while the rest of us stayed behind to set up. The wind was significantly less strong here and the sky was clear so thankfully I didn’t need to set up any tents.

When night came I took the first watch with Willow. A small part of me wished I could have had the Darkling with me. I knew I was risking a lot growing close to him but but I didn’t know what else to do in order to one day kill him. 

He needed to be alive for probably at least fifty years to help strengthen Ravka. And I wouldn’t age so I would need to be with him the entire time in order to one day stop him. I was afraid to be alone for centuries. I could love many people during that time but I would loose them all. Except for the Darkling.

I was avoiding talking so we wouldn’t wake anyone up but Willow broke the silence after about an hour. 

“Where were you posted before here?”  
she questioned. Saints, did she figure something out? She could also just be trying to get to know me better, it didn’t mean something was wrong. How would she figure anything out anyway, there wasn’t anyone to tell her anything.

“I just got drafted.” I lied  
“Well that explains you’re inexperience.”

I was a little bit offended but she had a point. I really didn’t know what was happening and there were plenty of landmarks that weren’t commonly marked yet so her thinking I was just drafted was probably a good thing.

“How old are you if you were just drafted?”  
“Seventeen.”   
There was no point in lying about my age too.  
Willow thankfully didn’t ask anything else . She didn’t act suspicious but I still thought she was giving mixed signals.

The forest around us was thick and I jumped at every small noise thinking we were being attacked. When my shift was finally over I went to go wake up the Darkling for his turn. 

“Hey it’s your turn to take watch.” I whispered as I gently shook his shoulder.  
He mumbled something about strangling me into his pillow.

“Well good morning to you too sunshine.” I said sarcastically   
“It’s the middle of the night.” He complained  
“Which means I’m going to sleep. Good night.”   
“You just said that it was morning.” the Darkling said  
“Morning for you dumbass.” I retorted while going to set up my sleeping pad.

I didn’t expect to sleep well considering how uncomfortable the ground was but I surprisingly didn’t have much trouble falling asleep. The camp was buzzing with anticipation when I woke up that morning. I was going to stay a bit behind with the other people on backup and the Darkling would signal us if he needed us. Which hopefully he didn’t. Although a small part of me still wanted a fight.

As we approached the camp I couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. It was late enough in the morning that there should be more people out considering the size of their camp. We were still concealed by the forest and the Darkling covered us with a light shadow. 

I climbed on top of a boulder to get a clearer look at the camp while everyone else advanced. When the soldiers were still out of the sight of the Fijerdans that was when I saw it. They were somehow expecting our attack. 

As if this was something they had been prepared for they lined up and faced us. The Darkling shot a shadow upwards. The signal for backup. It looked like I was going to get the fight I wanted.


	13. Chapter 13

I scrambled down the boulder and ran to back up the rest of the soldiers. Already several of them we dead. The Inferni with us lit tents on fire to draw anyone in them out into the open. There was far more people than we anticipated. 

I only had a rifle and a dagger but that meant nobody would expect me to be a threat and I intended to use it to my advantage. My power was still a last resort despite how much the amplifiers being together again made me want to use it. 

The first soldier spotted me and fired his gun. I dodged it and fired back. The bullet hit him in the leg. I fired again, hitting him square in the face. The only advantage we had was that the attack was supposed to be a surprise and we had lost that advantage. 

The shadows surrounding us faltered and I turned my head to see the Darkling. A Fijerdan was holding his wrists so his power wouldn’t help him right now. 

“Bite him!”  
He couldn’t fight back much without his hands being free. He flashed me a confused look but took my advice. 

The Fijerdan reeled back in surprise and the Darkling pulled a blade from his belt and stabbed the Fijerdan through the heart. The Darkling looked disgusted but otherwise okay.

I was tempted to go check on him but there wasn’t time. Half of our soldiers were dead by now. When another Fijerdan attacked me I shot and barely missed. I swore under my breath and fired again. The gun was empty. I quickly glanced around the camp to make sure nobody was looking and sent the cut at him. 

I heard a loud crack and a squaller, one far more powerful than I knew we had with us brought down the last remaining tents with a gust of wind. I couldn’t see them through all the chaos surrounding me but whoever they were I was grateful for them.

It tangled several of the Fijerdans in it, Kate burnt the broken tents. there was no way they could survive that. The squaller gave us a small advantage but at least half of our soldiers were dead. 

I still didn’t want to risk summoning light but I cut and solider in half, there wasn’t enough time for me to be as cautious as before so the only thing I could do was hope nobody saw me.

The Darkling called for a retreat when there was only seven of us left standing. We failed. The Fijerdans must have known that we were no match for them because they didn’t follow us. That didn’t stop us from running until we reached the place where we made camp. When we took a break everyone turned to the Darkling for orders. 

“What’s the plan?” asked Willow   
“I don’t know I didn’t prepare for almost everyone dying!”  
Although Willow didn’t ask anything unreasonable the Darkling sounded mad at her.

Kate stepped forward to give orders instead since it was clear the Darkling didn’t have any ideas. 

“How about we pack the most important things from camp since we don’t have enough people to carry everything and then we get as far away from here as we can tonight.”

Nobody objected so I packed weapons and food which we decided were the most important things to keep. Everyone finished packing quickly We hiked in silence as the sun set and well into the night. I thought we would just hike the whole way back but the Darkling told us to stop and set up a camp. 

We had a small enough group now that there wasn’t much point in finding open spaces in the forest so we were spread out around the forest, it wasn’t as dense as it was earlier but it was still difficult to find spaces flat enough to set anything up.

While Willow and Kate slept I took watch. I wanted to talk to the Darkling. If anyone caught me using the cut it would’ve been him. I didn’t want to admit it to myself but I was also worried about him.

I found him on watch sitting next to a small fire that was barely an ember. I settled myself next to him and waited for him to say something.

“Is everything okay?” I asked   
It was a dumb question when almost thirty people died under his watch but I needed to say something.

“I led all of them into a trap. I should’ve known.”

In that moment he looked so far from the monster I knew he would become one day. It almost seemed impossible that the loss of so few people compared to those he would kill would affect him at all. 

“They chose to fight, it’s war unfortunately people die.”   
I said while placing a hand on his shoulder 

“That doesn’t change that they died because I fell for an obvious trap.”   
the Darkling snapped, he sounded angry but I assumed it was more at himself than me. 

I really didn’t know what to say to him since he was partly right. He did lead us into a trap but I had no idea how he would’ve known. He had to give General Janazain some responsibility otherwise he would begin to suspect the Darkling, he already hated him enough. And he would take any chance he could get to hurt the Darkling and the other grisha.

I wished I was better with words. Instead of saying anything I inched closer to him. We were touching the slightest bit now. I half expected him to move away from me but he didn’t. I laid my hand on to of his. He held it lightly, I could feel his power amplifying mine. Neither of us said anything but I was okay with that, the only thing I could hear were crickets chirping. 

I was supposed to be on alert for any sign of danger but I felt safe with the Darkling. When our shift was done I didn’t want to go but if I stayed there any longer I would’ve fall asleep on his shoulder. 

“Good night Alina.”   
The Darkling whispered softly before I got up.

“Good night, Aleksander.”   
Saying his name didn’t feel strange anymore. 

I grabbed my pack that I had leaned against a tree and was rolling out my sleeping pad when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around, I was expecting to see someone from camp. Instead I saw Zoya Nazyalensky.


	14. Chapter 14

“How the hell did you get here?” 

I asked Zoya while pulling her in for a hug. Although she was always mean to me I still missed her.

“David sent me to you when we figured out something went wrong, I also needed to bring a way to get back, also when are we this definitely isn’t Kribirsk.”

I explained to Zoya that I landed hundreds of years away from where I was supposed to.

“This is actually perfect,” Zoya said eagerly “if the Darkling isn’t leading the second army he’ll be even easier kill.” 

Right. I would still have to kill him. I knew I would, the thought was at the back of my mind a lot but I didn’t give it much thought. I didn’t want to. 

“Zoya, the fold hasn’t even been created. We can’t kill him we still need him to create the second army.” I said a little too desperately.

“Why can’t you do it, you’re powerful enough?” Zoya questioned 

She had a point. I hadn’t revealed my power yet but when I did I could easily rise to power just as the Darkling did. That didn’t change that he still had a vital role in the war right now. I frantically explained this to her. She raised an eyebrow and said 

“Okay we can keep him alive for three weeks and then I’m getting us out of here.”

I didn’t want to risk anyone over hearing our conversation so I decided to go to sleep and come up with an exclamation for how Zoya got here. If I got away without questioning surely she could too. Hopefully the Darkling was stupid enough to not look into it much. 

The next morning we left early without eating breakfast since the Darkling wanted to get back to camp as fast as possible. It made it easier for Zoya to sneak in with us. I could tell the Darkling wasn’t at his best when he didn’t notice her until we were just approaching the camp. 

“Where did you come from?” He asked 

Although it was a reasonable question Zoya glared at him.

“Does it matter I saved you asses yesterday.” 

The Darkling was visibly confused from Zoya’s hostility, I interrupted before Zoya killed him. 

“She was captured then I found her and took her with us.” I cut in

“And you didn’t think of mentioning that yesterday?” 

“...We were busy.” I offered, 

the Darkling sighed and asked Zoya where she was stationed before she was captured. We really should’ve thought this through more. When she didn’t speak I cut in again.

“She could have hit her head and forgot where she was.”

Zoya flashed me a glare and I just shrugged. The Darkling obviously didn’t believe us but he must’ve known that having a powerful squaller with us wouldn’t cause any harm.

After about an hour of hiking in awkward silence we reached the base. It seemed while we were gone people had begun creating a fence around us judging by the logs in the ground that were surrounding the camp. We were only gone for two days so they must’ve worked quickly. 

Willow was walking a bit ahead of us and got stopped by guards that also weren’t there before. 

“What’s all this?” She demanded 

“General’s orders, while you were gone two drüskelle were caught sneaking into camp. This is to keep them out.” 

It seemed like sound logic but if General Janazain was behind this it wasn’t a good thing. The guard let us through and I went to go unpack. The weather was far warmer so I took the amplifier off of my neck. I was partly relieved that I didn’t get caught with my power but at the same time I was tired of hiding. I was almost caught with it thanks to Willow finding me.

“Saints there you are Alina, General Janazain just claimed the scouts who lied to us were three grisha and he just had them killed.” 

That was exactly why I still had my power secret. 

“Couldn’t Aleksander have said something, he knows it’s a lie.” 

I didn’t want to rely on him but he could easily prove General Janazain wrong.  
I followed Willow out of the tent while she explained that the Darkling tried to stop him but it was too late and they were killed in their sleep so nobody would know. 

The camp was strangely quiet. Weather it was because there was less people or everyone was afraid I couldn’t really tell.   
I needed to find Zoya before she showed how powerful she truly was. She should’ve stayed where she was. I didn’t want anyone else to die because of me. 

I found her outside helping build the fence. She had changed into a uniform like everyone else’s and had a pin identifying her as a squaller. 

“This is a huge downgrade from a kefta maybe we should let the Darkling live.” She complained. 

“Be quiet,” I hissed “three grisha were just killed you need to be extremely careful. Don’t let anyone know how powerful you really are.” 

I expected her to argue with me but she just nodded and went back to helping Kate with the fence. Not really knowing what to do I helped them. I thought Zoya was safe and nobody would pay much attention to her, new soldiers came all the time. But I spotted General Janazain spying on us while we were working.


End file.
